On a sunny, slightly brisk day at Chestnut Hill’s Shea Field, spirits were high. The first batch of students that attended received free Boston College hats(can’t say that I didn’t take up upon that offer myself). It’s too bad that I picked up a Large hat for my dome because when I realized that wearing it any further would give me a headache that is only saved for a Nickleback/Creed double bill, the XL hats were gone. So while braving a headache from the hat and other factors, I sat down to watch the 2:30 series opener between the Boston College Eagles and Virginia Tech Hokies.

Starting on the mound for the Eagles was senior righty Hunter Gordon, coming in hot with a 1-4 record on the season, with hitters batting .246 against him. Obviously W-L record really don’t matter for this team. Starter Eric Stevens’ record is 0-10 with a 6.42 ERA. On the other hand, John Gorman has an even more horrid ERA at 6.48, but has 3 wins. Take what you will from that but it is definitely seen that Gordon’s efforts on the hill haven’t been backed up by the Birdball offense.

I would make a joke comparing the probability of the Eagles putting up five runs to predictability of going out with someone with match with on Tinder, but after this game I’m pretty much convinced that Tinder sprouts more love than Coach Gambino’s crew puts men across the plate.

And oh boy, did the Eagles shortchange their pitcher!

Hunter Gordon came in against the No. 25 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies and throughly dominated. Virginia Tech came in with a stellar .286 BA with 310 runs(6.59 per game). For the purposes of comparison, Boston College is barely staying above the Mendoza line at .205, only driving in 150 runs(3.26 per game). Taking down a lineup like the Hokies with eight strikeouts while owning the outside corner should be rewarded by your teammates, the Eagles refused to help him or any of the other hurlers in 12 innings.

Now, if you are a Virginia Tech Hokie fan reading this blog for some reason(Obviously it’s for my humor and obscure references), don’t think that I am discounting SP Joe Mantiply’s outing. The senior has had a stellar career for the Hokies and he continued his solid season by throwing seven scoreless, but when a baseball team is unable to get three hits in 12 innings, there is a right for the fan to mock, without even considering their competition.

I will give a more full recap by the end of this weekend, as the series continues, but finals call me. I know you’re asking, “Kyle, how could someone as brilliant as you need to be studying on a Friday night?” I give you two words: Research Methods.

Anyways, have a great night you crazy, wild Boston College Eagles fans. Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow(today) at 1:30 PM at Shea Field. But for now, have a good night.

Are there any more words you can spare on the Eagles at this point, without even being repetitive. Probably even that opening line has become cliche among the Boston College blogs. Obviously this is not my intention, but there is hardly anything enticing about the current squad in the Heights.

So today, after getting their first ACC win after 21 attempts, the Boston College Eagles baseball team attempted to put together consecutive wins for the first time since beating UConn and Harvard on 4/2 and 4/3. Prior to yesterday’s 1-0 win against the Miami Hurricanes, the Eagles’ hadn’t won a game since “beating up” on Ivy League Dartmouth 9-5.

Actually, aside from all of the negativity that is going to be expressed in this game recap, today the Boston Colleges Team supported the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides assistance to wounded veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The team honored veterans prior to the game and several came out for the first pitch. The Eagles also wore commemorative Under Armour jerseys with the Stars and Stripes displayed on the sleeves.

The game started like most Boston College baseball games:getting off to an early deficit. The Hurricanes battered the Eagles starting pitcher Junior Eric Stevens(0-10), who is currently seems to be on track to challenge Anthony Young’s infamous streak, in the top of the second with Miami Sophomore CF Dale Carey doubling down the line in left driving in the runners on first and second, who had gotten on board with consecutive singles.

Stevens was able to last till the top of the sixth, where he was pulled after only getting an out. In total, he gave up five runs on ten hits and two walks. Sophomore Nick Poore came in for Stevens giving the Eagles 3 scoreless innings with an equal number of strikeouts.

The other end of the pitching bill couldn’t have been any different. Miami Sophomore starting pitcher Brian Radziewski, who is putting together an all-around incredible season with only an 0.95 ERA in 56.2 innings, pitched a complete game shutout only allowing 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Considering yesterday’s Miami starter Chris Diaz’s only run was unearned, Miami pitchers haven’t given up an earned run in 18 innings against the Eagles.

Obviously that is not an optimal fact for these Eagles who have struggled to put runners across the plate all season. To put it in perspective, Boston College is trailing Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in runs scored this season at 281st place among Divsion I programs coming into this weekend, having only 131 marks on the scoreboard. This problem is compounded by the fact that the team can barely stay above the Mendoza Line with a .208 batting average(294th out of 296 DI teams).

I don’t know what needs to be done with Boston College Baseball, because clearly where it is right now seems pretty hopeless. There is no fire or excitement right now. Freshman SS Joe Cronin bunting right after Blake Butera walked in the first inning was about the most interesting part about the game today. Even with a team so inept at the plate, at least a bit of scrappiness can be implemented to make game watchable, but manager Mike Gambino hasn’t been able to instill that sort of culture into the team. Maybe he isn’t even feeling like his team should do that. But when your team lacks extra base hit power, you must adjust.

Hopefully things will improve. Hopefully a proper stadium will be built that will attract more than the usual crowd of family and bros with tailgate coolers. But right now all we know is that we have a Boston College baseball team with a 7 and 35 record with a 1 and 21 line in the ACC. See you at the “rubber match” tomorrow 12 PM Shea Field.

Follow @KeganSTG

So today I went out on a date with Kate Upton. Went pretty well. But she’s definitely not up to my standards. She’s going to get that no call treatment. Anyways, gotta get the polo shirt out of the wash because Mark Wahlberg and Tom Brady are waiting on me to pick them up for a little early evening tee time. Going to ditch them on the 10th hole cause I’m going to have some Arnold Palmer with Arnold Palmer. That’s honestly just how I roll.

In other news, Boston College picked up their first ACC victory in a shutout of the Miami Hurricanes(28-17,10-12 ACC) by the score of 1-0.

It was a pitcher’s duel throughout as neither starters gave up any earned runs throughout their outing. Boston College Senior Hunter Gordon went 6 1/3 innings giving up no runs, only 3 hits and 4 walks. Gordon’s Miami counterpart, Freshman Chris Diaz, who has had an incredible rookie year sporting a 1.53 ERA in 76.2 innings prior to the game, went 8 innings without allowing an earned run, but an unearned run in the third gave Diaz his fourth loss.

In the bottom of the third, with one out, Travis Ferrick singled followed by a Gabriel Hernandez single. So, with runners of first and second, Blake Butera hit a sharp grounder to short. Miami shortstop Brandon Lopez flipped it to second baseman Alex Hernandez for the out. But then Hernandez tried to get Ferrick out at third but the throw went over the head of the third baseman and BC got the decisive run.

Hey at least Boston College was able to get their first ACC win on their 21st attempt. I guess that was the trick. The attendance was pretty good for a weekday game, despite the fact it was mostly Miami fans. Obviously the Hurricane faithful were none too pleased that their team was Boston College’s first ACC victim.

But let the little people cry as I finish this blog and jet off to tee time at Augusta. I’ll be back in the AM for the Wounded Warrior Game at Shea Field where the Eagles will attempt to improve on their 7 and 34 record (1-20 ACC). See you there at 1:30. Also tell that scrub Verlander he can have Kate Upton back. Not up to Soaring to Glory standards.

Follow @KeganSTG

Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

For three years and more, college sports fans have endured non-stop rumor and pointless hypothetical scenarios regarding the conference affiliation of nearly every Division I program in the United States. Boston College has not been immune to such discussion, with articles and random message board threads suggesting everything from BC pleading with the Big Ten for its life to crawling back to the desiccated Big East. Fortunately, on Monday, BC’s Atlantic Coast Conference took a major step towards ending realignment for the foreseeable future.

The fifteen member schools of the ACC, including newcomers Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Louisville, and definitely not including Maryland, signed a grant of media rights agreement which holds through 2027. For those who don’t have enough fingers to count, which is everyone, that’s 14 years from now, or 12 years after Marty McFly gets fired by Needles in Back to the Future Part II. (Seriously, I’m still waiting for my flying car.) In the agreement, any school that leaves the ACC between now and 2027 will forfeit all of its television revenue coin.

For those who need it put another way, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution does so simply:

This [grant of rights agreement] means each ACC school has pledged that money for its TV rights through the conclusion of the conference’s contract with ESPN, which runs through 2027, will remain with the ACC no matter where that school happens to reside. If, say, Georgia Tech decided to move to the Big Ten, Georgia Tech’s TV money would go not to the Big Ten but to the ACC. Which, bottom-line, means Georgia Tech won’t be moving to the Big Ten.

So, if anyone leaves the ACC any time soon, they’ll get nothing and they’ll like it. Not to mention, they’ll still have to pony up 50 million clams to pay their way out. It therefore seems logical to assume that nobody is leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference for quite some time and we can all rejoice. There will be no more talk of conferences like the Big Ten poaching the ACC for some of our North Carolina schools, or even us here at Boston College (which is fine by me, because I don’t think I could get used to the slow-paced, low-scoring basketball games). We’ve also heard the rumors of the Big 12 and SEC performing NC-17 flirting with our southern ACC schools. That’s over, for now.

Furthermore, we finally have a sense of conference stability. It may be that any perceived instability was more a function of rumor and misdirection than an actual existential threat to the conference, since it is clear now that all 15 schools are on-board. We can look forward to what we hope is decent ACC football, but what I’m certain will be great ACC basketball.

Other major conferences including the Big 12, Pac-12, and Big Ten have already taken this step, and those leagues are stable. The ACC is as well, and Boston College sports is in a long-term situation. That will certainly bother the “we never should have left the Big East” crowd, even though the Big East essentially no longer exists, anyway. Nevertheless, BC has a long-term conference home, and that is how it shall remain.

Nov 17, 2012; West Point, NY, USA; Temple Owls head coach Steve Addazio talks to his team during a time out in the second half against the Army Black Knights at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

On Marathon Monday, Boston saw a lot of tragedy. But literally right before the explosions were heard in Copley Square, at 2:45 EST 247 4 star WR/ATH Thaddius Smith out of Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, PA committed to the Boston College Eagles. His other top finalists were Temple, James Madison University and Villanova.

First seen on the Twitter wire by Matt Alkire of UpperHand Promotions:

Thadd Smith #BostonCollege #OHara

— Matt Alkire (@MattAlkire) April 15, 2013

Thaddius Smith, if you may remember is one of the players that BC’s first 2014 commit, Marcus Outlow was looking to convince to join him at Boston College. Obviously that tag team of Outlow and Coach Addazio were enough to persuade the presumable slot reciever(he is 5’11) to commit. Perhaps the snowball effect of BC recruits will continue as more buzz begins to surround what is happening with the Fighting Addazios in Chestnut Hill.

Thaddius Smith had quite the junior season this past Fall. The overall numbers weren’t particularly gaudy, considering Smith also plays a couple of series on defense at O’Hara, but the averages are something that you’d do for as you would a Klondike bar. On 57 rushing attempts he gained 363 yards(4 TDs) for a 6.37 yards per carry. On the receiving end he got 426 yards on 33 catches with 8 TDs and a B-E-A-Utiful 12.9 avg per catrch.

Honestly, you cannot fully tell how giddy I am for this class of Eagles Coach Addazio is bringing in 2014. Unfortunately I will only be able to experience it in my Senior Year, but at least it’s something much better than we would have seen under the last two Boston College coaches with “z”‘s in their names.

So, everyone, please welcome the fifth recruit of BC’s 2014 class, Thaddius Smith to the Heights!! Also, credit Ryan Day for the lead on recruiting the 247 149th best player in the country to Boston College!!

Follow @KeganSTG

Boston College baseball continued their trend of mediocrity today by dropping both games of today’s double header against the No.19 ranked NC State Wolfpack team. These two losses add up to the Eagles losing their first 16 games against ACC opponents this year. This also reduces the Eagles record to 6-28 on the 2013 season. The reason the set of games this Saturday was because the game on Saturday needed to be cancelled due to the rain in Chestnut Hill Friday afternoon.

In the first game, the Eagles had a 5-0 lead after finishing the second inning. But the NC State Wolfpack were able to beat up Eagles starting pitcher Hunter Gordon in the fourth peeling off four runs. The final blow was put on the Eagles, with freshman Jeff Burke on the mound, when the Wolfpack got two runs in the bottom of the Sixth.

The Eagles weren’t able to answer back against the combo of Thomas, Easley, and Sasser for the final seven innings after starting pitcher Rodon was taken out after he gave up the five runs.

The second game was even more of a wash for the Eagles. After getting a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, when catcher Matt Pare scored on an error, the Wolfpack put on six runs between the next two innings. The Eagles were only able to crack the box score once more in the seventh with a Gabriel Hernandez sacrifice fly. Then NC State closed out the Eagles 6-2.

The Eagles will play next on Sunday at noon in the finale against the NC State Wolfpack. Hopefully they will be able to get their first ACC win.

Follow @KeganSTG

Nov 17, 2012; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles quarterback Chase Rettig (11) rolls out of the pocket during the fourth quarter against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Alumni Stadium. Virginia Tech Hokies won 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Addazio has been talking about implementing the Tim Tebow type dual threat offenses he ran at Florida and the coach has finally got his man. Wade in his Junior season at Middletown High School passed for 2275 yards with 27 touchdowns, combined with 546 rushing, scrambling into the endzone seven times.

The story was first reported by 247:

Three-star QB Darius Wade has committed to Boston College. Addazio and Co. are rolling right now. #BCEagles…. bit.ly/Z4N3oE

— Boston College (@BCEagles247) April 9, 2013

And the interesting part of this story is that in addition to obvious effort that Addazio & Co. put into recruiting Wade, they got a bit of an assist according to 247′s twitter feed. In fact, Boston College’s first 2014 recruit, RB Marcus Outlow helped persuade Wade to commit to the Heights. And if you wouldn’t believe it the snowball effect(literally the only important term I have learned in Research Methods) might just continue.

Full interview/story up in the A.M. with Darius Wade. Here’s a teaser – he’s already targeting a four-star WR to join him.
#BCEagles

— Boston College (@BCEagles247) April 9, 2013

If this is true, the Eagles will have gotten off to a good recruiting start that was unseen under previous coach Frank Spaziani. Darius Wade is BC’s fourth verbal commit, joining 247 three stars Harold Landry, Marcus Outlow, and Isaac Yiadom.

Darius Wade also holds offers from Bucknell, Clemson, NC State, UMass, Nebraska, Delaware, Syracuse and Temple according to Rivals. Yes, we beat two ACC schools and Nebraska for a quality recruit. If you’re a true Boston College Eagle fan, you’ve got to be impressed with this torrid start to the recruiting season.

This Darius Wade’s recruiting video(link from BCI):

Anyways, let’s all welcome Darius Wade to the Heights!! He is on Twitter @Therealdwade4. His account is locked, so please don’t commit any NCAA booster violations in trying to get a follow(I mean don’t stalk him)!

Follow @KeganSTG

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Over the course of spring football, we’re going to look in on a few of our ACC foes as they work through spring football. It’s not like any of us have staff members sitting in on BC football practices, and even if we did, there probably wouldn’t be much to talk about, so why not have some substantive conference football discussion?

For this interview, we welcome Fansided’s newest ACC blog, Chop Chat, and its editor, Duke, as he discusses the current state of Florida State Seminoles football and what we might expect to see from the defending ACC champions.

STG: If my information is right, your Seminoles have their spring game next Saturday. At a football school with tradition like yours, I’d imagine it’s a big event. Just in general, what’s the day like and what kind of crowds do you expect?

CC: When I was a student, the spring games weren’t a big deal. We went to them, but they’d be lucky to hit around 20,000 people. Things are different now. Jimbo Fisher is equal parts coach and businessman. He understands that you have to drive up interest in Spring to get more season ticket holders in the Fall. Recently, we have been hitting 50,000 fans and I would expect slightly less than that this year. 50,000 still means lots of fun and tailgating, a primer for the Fall. Last year, expectations couldn’t have been higher for the 2012 squad. ESPN sent their army to televise the game. Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach were honorary coaches and even called a few series. This year, no one knows what to expect from FSU and while that makes this squad mysterious, it won’t have a lot of hype. This year’s game, though, is much more important than last year’s.

STG: Moving onto the actual football matters, EJ Manuel is on his way to the NFL. Who are the main contenders for the next starting quarterback and who do you expect to emerge in the spring game?

CC: If you listen to Jimbo Fisher, there are four candidates: Clint Trickett (the son of FSU’s OL coach), Jacob Coker (an underrated, big armed QB out of Alabama), Jameis Winston (a heralded two-sport star), and Sean Maguire (a solid prospect from New Jersey). So far, none of the QBs have been able to separate themselves and I don’t see Jimbo picking his guy until a few days before the opening game. I personally believe Trickett will win the job because he’s a coach’s son and understands the game, but Jameis Winston is the fan favorite. He exudes talent. He just might not be ready, however.

View the rest of the interview on the next page

Nov 17, 2012; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles defensive back Dominique Williams (9) celebrates a tackle during the fourth quarter against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Alumni Stadium. Virginia Tech Hokies won 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Another recruit for new Boston College coach Steve Addazio as he attempts to build the “4 hour fence” of recruits around the Heights as Isaac Yiadom, a WR/DB from Worcester verbally committed. Yiadom is a 6’0, 170 lb who actually plays on both sides of the ball for Doherty High School. Last season, he got 1,267 all purpose yards, along with 76 tackles and 8 interceptions in the defensive backfield. So basically this is a kid who is tough enough to garner 13 touchdowns while going right back on the field to play defense. This is something I really like to see in a prospect. On Rivals, Yiadom is given a 3 star rating and has offers from Bryant, Holy Cross, and UConn, while Virginia Tech was starting to gain interest.

According to ESPNBoston.com, Yiadom chose BC because he believes that Coach Addazio is putting the right pieces in place to turn around the program. Yiadom is solid in the classroom with a 3.6 GPA. He is quoted in the ESPN Boston article:

“That’s why my dad loves BC, he wanted me to go there,” Yiadom said. “I wouldn’t have trouble getting a good job if I don’t [go to the NFL]. If I had to choose any school in New England, close to my family, or really any school in the country, it’s BC. Everybody there is real.”

This is similar to the strategy that Coach Addazio used in wooing the first Class of 2014 recruit RB Marcus Outlow, who chose BC over schools like Florida and Ohio State. The strong academics of Boston College should definitely not be a hindrance in recruiting but rather a tool. The fact of the matter is that over 90% of DI football players will not be paid for their performance on the field beyond college. The rigorous academics of a school like Boston College prepare athletes better than most other schools when it’s time to hang up the cleats and that is what Isaac Yiadom saw through Coach Addazio’s, I suspect, enthused recruiting speech.

Anyways, this is a great early addition to the Class of 2014 and we at Soaring to Glory hope to see many more quality pick ups by the new coaching staff in the future. In the meantime, we’d like to congratulate and welcome Isaac Yiadom to the Heights and hope he has a successful career here, if he holds the commitment.

Story was first reported by ESPN Boston’s Brendan Hall last night:

Doherty 2014 WR/DB Isaac Yiadom (@isaacshowtime) tells us tonight he has committed to Boston College. Was offered earlier this week on visit

— Brendan Hall (@BHallESPN) March 29, 2013

Also check out Isaac Yiadom’s recruiting film:

Check out Fansided150.com for all college football recruiting updates!!

Follow @KeganSTG

 Contributions from Joe Bushee.

If you’re not currently enrolled at Boston College you might not know about this new fad that has truly been taking over the campus’s cyberspace attention. It’s a forum to leak your sexual adventures, interests, loneliness, or the awful things you’ve done to people anonymously contains some awful, awful things that you really have to filter through what’s true and what’s a pile of bologna. And since it’s anonymous, people are letting it loose.

But unfortunately, the “quality” of the confessions has gone down since the page first came out moving from epic mod stories to arguments about gay marriage and BCSSH, but there are still some gems. So since this is a blog about BC Athletics we’d like to request some confessions from some of the Eagles we cheer on throughout the year from each sport.

Football:

What was the exact length of the defensive cushion?

What happened in the locker room at halftime of the UCF stinker in 2011? 

Details of a Spaz motivational speech.

How much eye black tubes did Mark Herzlich need?

How much does Coach Addazio lift? I’ve seen him work out.

How many Eagles used to be Notre Dame fans? It’s okay….

Has Bill Romanowski come back and try to relive the BC weekend with you? Bet you’d want his side in a bar fight.

Basketball: